Absolute Power Corrupts...

I tend to not talk about politics and such on my blog.
But today, I am veering off from that course.
You see, the County that my Teeny Tiny Town is located in garnered some unwanted National attention last night.
A bigtime corruption scandal was a subject on the ABC Prime Time show "20/20".

If you haven't heard, here is the basic gist of the story.
My county, Luzerne County in Pennsylvania, is well known within the state for being one of the most corrupt places to live....outside of some major league corruption places out-of-state, like Chicago & Boston. We aren't quite up in that league...yet. But Luzerne County politics has taken a page from those Gangsters of the 1920's.

Backdoor & shady deals have always been the way around here, is what people who have lived here their entire lives tell me. You have to be related to someone who's connected to get a government job, get a permit or license, etc. for anything around here. Nepotism is the name of the game in the public schools too. Outsiders need not apply. Having moved here 8 years ago, we are outsiders.

It turns out that 2 of our county judges took this shadiness just one step too far with a little scheme they hatched about 10 yrs. ago.
Micheal Conahan was the President Judge of Luzerne County back then. Mark Ciavarella was a judge under him, and eventually when Conahan retired, Ciavarella was chosen to take over as the President Judge. Ciavarella was also the judge who ruled over the Juvenile Court cases in the County Courthouse, 5 miles from my home.

C&C had the local state's juvenile facility closed down and then threw govt. contracts to their croonies in the construction business, awarding them millions to build a privately run new juvenile detention center. Then Ciavarella ran roughshod over Justice when kids in trouble were brought before him in court. He handed down stiff sentences to EVERY SINGLE KID brought up on charges, no matter how minor the charge or the fact that for many it was a 1st offense.

Every child who went before him ended up in the new juvenile jail, for months or even years.
1 kid hit his father with a piece of meat during a family argument.
1 kid was in a fight at school(the other kid started it). No one was hurt.
1 kid made a myspace page mocking a school administrator.
All of these were 1st offenses.
All these kids, ranging from 12-16 yr. old, went to jail.

Often times these kids were taken directly from their schools into custody, without their parents being contacted first or given the opportunity to speak with their child before being carted off to juvenile detention. Allowing law enforcement into the schools without legal notice or representation for the parents, made the Schools and their Administrators duplicit in the aggregious offenses that befell these kids!
These Adminstrators also should be held accountable for their part in wreeking havoc in these families lives.

Ciavarella took all of 4 minutes with each case before sentencing kids to jail. Often the kids weren't allowed to state their case or say anything.
These kids & their parents were not informed of their right to have a lawyer. They were told by court personnel that they didn't need a lawyer.
If they brought a lawyer to court, they were told by Ciavarella that they would not be allowed to represent the kid/parents.
Ciavarella IGNORED recommendations from the Parole Dept. personnel when they advised kids should NOT be incarcerated and be remanded to their parents and put on probation & community service.

Ciavarella was God and took NO recommendations under advisement from the mere mortals who worked with him.

Conahan & Ciavarella were getting kickbacks....kickbacks from their cronies the builders and kickbacks from the people running the Detention Center for filling the beds by sending all those kids there.
$300 a day per kid for months.....years......
They admitted to taking 2.6 MILLION.
I have a feeling it was MUCH higher.

It's thoroughly disgusting that this happened. What's worse is that it was ALLOWED to happen and CONTINUE for 5 YEARS!

Why did it continue for so long?
Because everyone in that CourtHouse.....all the employees and other judges were either on the take with them or indebted to them, or pressured into staying silent or face losing their jobs. No one stood up to these two, except one judge-Ann Lokuta. She was a no-nonsense, brusk woman judge(the ONLY woman judge in Luzerne County) and not part of the Old Boy's Club down at the courthouse.

A couple of years ago, Lokuta started making noises about the goings on at the Courthouse. Last year Ciavarella brought her up on dereliction of duty charges. He got other Courthouse employees to testify against Lokuta and she was disbarred, stripped of her Judicial seat and any pension she had earned.

After her hearing, Lokuta was contacted by the FBI. Seems someone at the behest of some of the parents of those kids wrongly jailed contacted an outsider, the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Center, and they filed papers that got the FBI investigating what was going on in Luzerne County.

Feb. 12th of this year, the FBI swept into Luzerne County to announce charges against Judges C&C. Ciavarella resigned from the bench immediately and both Conahan & Ciavarella arranged for plea agreements for a reduced sentence of 7.5 yrs. each.

Yesterday it was announced that all the records of the kids tried by Ciavaralla from 2003-2008 would be expunged and all sentences adjudicated. A large group of the parents & kids he tried are filing a massive civil lawsuit as well.
I hope the kid's families leave Conahan & Ciavarella and their families penniless.
Money won't make it better but at least these people can get therapy and put their lives back together.

There is still more corruption in Luzerne County at the Courthouse. The Court Adminstrator has pleaded guilty to stealing money from illegal slot machines seized for evidence in cases....$70,000. Turns out this guy, William Sharkey, is the nephew of ex Judge Conahan. Our County's Prothonotary, Jill Moran, has stepped down from that position and is cooperating with authorities in exchange for leniency on her part in this scandal. She is a local lawyer & the business partner also of Bob Powell. Bob Powell is one of the people involved with the building & running of the Juvenile Detention Center. Jill Moran is also accused of falsifying documents for Powell in regard to some real estate tax issues. Sandra Brulo, of the Probation Dept., was fired and is facing charges of obstruction of justice. She tampered with files for Ciavarella.

Every week a new festering sore is exposed as the Putrid Stinking Corruption here is unearthed and a new player faces criminal charges.

On the bright side, Ann Lokuta may get her Judgeship back. The ruling against her was overturned and her seat on the bench was taken off the ballot for the upcoming election of judges in May.

If you want to see the piece 20/20 did, go Here. Under WATCH VIDEO, on the right side of the page, click on the clip entitled, "KIDS JAILED FOR CASH?"

I was going through some files from 2008 this morning and found this letter I received last Feb. thanking me for my service on Jury Duty in Luzerne County. I don't know if you can see it but it's signed by Mark Ciavarella.
I don't know whether to put this letter on eBay or have it exorcized and drive the 2.5 miles over to Ciavarella's house and return it to him.
Yes, it seems this Monster Ciavarella lives here in Teeny Tiny Town with me.
Just another reason to not want to live here in the Armpit of Pennsylvania.

Evil & corruption will spread if given half a chance. When you notice corruption, keep speaking out against it until someone hears you.

Sluggy